The following assignment is a reply post to a peers discussion post. Write it as a response, not as a paper. In your reply, critique and compare the crime rates and crime problems to those that you chose to analyze in your initial posting.
]Peers post:
The three metropolitan cities that I chosen to evaluate for this assignment are Des Moines, IA, Reno, NV and Birmingham, AL. For comparison, the reported population in 2018 for Des Moines, IA was 218, 853, Reno, NV was 250, 998 and Birmingham, AL was reported as 209,880. Looking at the crime statistics for the cities that I choose it is evident that Birmingham has a significantly higher number of murders than Des Moines and Reno. It is also evident that the crime problem that plagues these three cities is theft and also auto theft. It would be interesting to see the location of where the thefts and auto thefts are taking place to determine what could be the problem that is making this an easier crime to commit, maybe they are taking place in dark areas that need better lighting or they could be happening in areas that are not monitored by surveillance and the agencies can look into investing in surveillance cameras throughout the city. After determining what the conditions/environment in which these crimes are committed the agency can come up a plan of what needs to be done and after some time the implemented plan can be evaluated to see if the plan did reduce this type of crime.
The Reno Police Department does have a Crime Analysis Unit (CAU) which is a vital additional to the police department. The CAU, as described in the Reno Annual Report, analyzes local calls for service and crime data to identify crime patterns and concentrated crime areas within the city to identify trends that can be targeted by various department units (Reno Police Department: Annual Report 2018). The Birmingham Police Department also has Crime Analysis unit; however, the website does not provide much information about the unit and their work. The Des Moines Police Department does not seem to have a CAU within their agency.
My post:
Minneapolis, Omaha, and Des Moines are three cities of similar size and have nearly an equal population size. Crime makes these cities similar. If you compare the crime index and crimes in the three cities, one should notice some differences and similarities. Minneapolis experiences a crime index of about 52.38. on the other hand, Omaha has a crime index of about 45.99. Des Moines has a crime index of about 68.18 (Numbeo, 2020). The three cities show an average crime index, with Des Moines having the highest crime index. Indeed, the overall crime index varies between the three cities, and the two common types of crime with the highest rate are violent and property crimes.
Violent crime is one crime problem that affects the three cities. Minneapolis’s violent crimes occur at a rate of about 4614 crimes per 100,000 individuals indicating a higher violent crime rate than Des Moines and Omaha. Violent crimes in Omaha occur at about 2909 crimes per 100,000 individuals, and in Des Moines occur at a rate of 1058 crimes per 100,000 individuals.
Property crimes in Minneapolis occur at about 19446 per 100,000 individuals indicating they are at higher rates than in Des Monies and Omaha. In Omaha, property crimes occur at a rate of 17437 per 100,000 individuals, while in Des Mones, they occur at a rate of about 6360 per 100,000 individuals (Neighborhoodscout, 2020).
Omaha has the lowest robbery crimes at a rate of 625 crimes per 100,000 individuals than in Minneapolis and Des Monies (FBI.gov, 2017). Minneapolis experiences robbery rate is about 1819 per 100,000 individuals, while Des Moines is 3457 per 100,000 people.
The overall crime rate per type of crime is also higher in both cities, but the rates vary. It indicates that in the three cities, violent crimes and property crimes records the highest rate. I ascertain that the law enforcement agencies in these three cities have an operational crime analysis unit.